Iowa State Falls to No. 16 OU in Series Finale

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State softball team fell to No. 16 Oklahoma 11-0 in five innings Sunday at the Cyclone Sports Complex as the Sooners completed the series sweep. The win improved OU to 24-8 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 play. The loss dropped the Cyclones to 17-14 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12.

Iowa State was in it with a shot in the early proceedings before the Sooners blew away ISU with a 10-run fourth inning.

Sooners on the Board in the FirstJust like the first two games of the series, Oklahoma took the initiative to get off to a fast start again as Shelby Pendley led off with a four-pitch walk and Kady Self followed that up with a double to right to put runners on second and third with no outs. Georgia Casey drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to left to put Oklahoma up 1-0.

After a four-pitch walk to Brittany Williams, Johnson settled down and got a fly out for the second out. After a walk was issued to Macey Hatfield to load the bases, Johnson got Destinee Martinez to strike out swinging to get Iowa State out of the jam.

Iowa State Misses its ChanceWith the score still 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Iowa State saw its opportunity to get on the board. With Sara Davison on first, Sara Rice got Iowa State’s first hit of the game with a single to center field. During Jorden Spendlove’s at-bat, a wild pitch by OU hurler Kelsey Stevens allowed the Cyclone base runners to both move up an additional base. Then Spendlove followed that up with a walk of her own to load the bases.

However, Maddie Reese popped up and though OU’s second baseman, Casey, had to battle the wind to make the play, she eventually tracked it down for the third out and ISU ended the inning with the bases loaded.

Oklahoma Breaks ThroughThe Sooner bats came alive in the fourth inning as OU got its first two hitters on and then brought home RBIs on three-straight at bats via Leslie Miller, Jessica Vest and Pendley to make the score 4-0 Oklahoma. After a Self walk that loaded the bases with nobody out, the Cyclones switched pitchers and Paris Imholz came into the circle for Iowa State.

Imholz battled Casey throughout the at-bat, but Casey got the last laugh with a bases clearing triple to left-center that put the Sooners ahead 7-0. An Ellis single made it 8-0 and then Hatfield capped it off with a 3-run homer to left-center to give OU a 10-run inning and its 11-0 margin.

On DeckIowa State makes the trip to Cedar Falls to take on the UNI Panthers Wednesday at 4 p.m.